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Joshua, now age eight,
could not form a sentence at the age of
four. Today he can read, speaks as well as a
normally developing eight year old and is
being home-schooled with a regular second
grade curriculum.
Joshua was on the Gluten Free/Casein
Free Diet (GFCF) for over 3 years, but he is
no longer required to be on the diet. Through the diet and
supplementation, he made great progress in
overcoming many of the autistic symptoms
that held him back developmentally. However,
he remained at a weight of less than
35 pounds and less than 40 inches tall until
recently. Despite great efforts to expand
his diet, we found that his calorie count
remained at about 600 calories per day.
One of the main reasons
for having Joshua on the GFCF diet was to
combat the effects of Leaky Gut Syndrome,
aka Intestinal Permeability. In October
2006, we found out that there was a simple
test to determine if he still had a leaky
gut.
We ordered the Intestinal
Permeability test from Genova Diagnostics
through our doctor. A few weeks later, we
were elated to find out that his gut was
completely healed and that we could begin to
introduce foods that were not allowed under
the GFCF diet. We were also able to do this
because Joshua tested negative for Celiac's
disease.
We are excited to
announce that Joshua responded well to the
changes in his diet and he has gained 8
pounds and 7 inches in height since we
introduced the changes.
One of the reasons that
Joshua is currently home-schooled is to
allow us to give him a snack or a meal every
two hours. This was necessary to spread out
the increased calories throughout the day
rather than in a few large meals. Another
benefit is that his appetite has increased
and he is willing to try new foods.
Every child is different
and some take longer to improve. Joshua
continues his supplements, diet and
glutathione daily to enable him to live a
normal childhood. |
